"The modern master of the gamebook format" (Rob Sanders)... "Can do dark very well" (Jonathan Oliver)... "Green gets mileage out of his monsters" (SFX Magazine)... "It takes a firm editorial hand and a keen understanding of the tone of each piece to make a collection this diverse work, and Green makes it look effortless" (Starburst Magazine)

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Wednesday, 31 July 2013

If you're serious about writing and you think the best way forward is to get yourself an agent, then you should read this piece by agent Juliet Mushens about the best way to do so, and common pitfalls to avoid.

Tuesday, 30 July 2013

If by "no longer meeting the needs of writers" it means "not allowing any old Tom, Dick or Harry to call themselves an 'author' by publishing what the hell they want without a critical eye being cast over their work first" then I'm more than just sceptical.

So that's a total of 258 free downloads over five days. I might have hoped for more, so, the question has to be, was it worth it? Well it generated some interest in my work at the time, and probably brought some new readers into the fold, but best of all the book received these 5 star reviews (which never hurts):

"Although creepy, there were no real shockers in there for me until the very last story (The Doll's House) which was also my favourite of the collection. A struggling mother gets dangerously close to losing it after the appearance of an unwanted childhood toy brings old nightmares back to life. It's one of those stories which you know isn't going to end happily ever after, so the only question is when and how bad is it going to be. Other stories which stood out for me were Necropolis - A criminals plans for an evening of getting up to no good backfire, and as panic and paranoia set in, the busy streets of London offer little hope. Also Fear to Tread - Always enjoy this type of story. A move to a nice quiet village turns out to be anything but as sinister signs are revealed and nothing is quite what it seems.""The Dolls House (10/10) When a struggling new mother finds that home life is running her ragged, she decides to root out the problem.""Seeing the name Jonathan Green on a cover of a novel, for me, sells it instantly, knowing this is a collection of short horror stories again, sells it. The best thing for me about collections like this is it generally cuts down the genre to just the bare essentials instead of giving authors way too much space to fill up and distract from the bones of the business and this is where Green is always at his best anyway. Direct, creepy as hell and worth every second of your time."

The image on the cover of the notepad is that of Aranaea the Spider Queen while the notecards feature the cover painting. If you'd like to purchase your own Howl of the Werewolf products, click this link.

Much as I love Martin's art, I don't think I'm ready to go this far just yet...

The exciting news (that I've been sitting on for the best part of a year) is that German publisher LUZIFER-Verlag has acquired translation rights for Pax Britannia: Unnatural History, the first of Ulysses Quicksilver's gonzo Steampunk adventures. And here's the, quite frankly awesome, cover of the German edition.

Thanks to Ben Smith of Abaddon Books and Steffen Janssen of LUZIFER-Verlag for making this happen, and let's hope that German readers enjoy Ulysses' adventures as much as readers in the UK and the US have done so far.

Who knows, if sales are strong enough, there may well be more German editions of Pax Britannia books in the future.

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

And now, like every other business in the country (or so it seems), in honour of the event, Dark Heart - my collection of short horror fiction - will be free to download to your Kindle for five days, starting from today.

Enjoy! (And don't let me hear you say the Royal Family never did anything for you.)

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

In television, music generally ends up being nothing more than background noise. But every now and then there's a show where the music is so much more, managing to burst forth from the background so as to gloss even the most mundane of scenes with emotion, depth and atmosphere – and making better ones soar beyond mere performance. Under the conduction of composer Murray Gold, Doctor Who has most definitely become one of those shows.

Saturday, 20 July 2013

Something is coming, rising up from the light-less, foetid depths of oceans older than man...

That's right - the ebook edition of Dreaming In Darkness (the Cthulhu collection I contributed to along with John Prescott, Adrian Chamberlin and Aaron French) is released tomorrow worldwide, so watch this space...

You can read more about the book here, and read the press release here.

Friday, 19 July 2013

"I've been a fan of game books for well over 20 years and also have played Warhammer for a similar time. It was then with great delight that I discovered 'Shadows over Sylvania'. Jonathan has done a great job of bringing the Warhammer World to life in a new and totally unexpected way.

The story is set in the dark lands of Sylvania at a time prior to the current Warhammer setting and was of particular interest to me as a Warhammer Vampire Counts player.The book pits you as a vampire thrall of one of three bloodlines, each with their own unique abilities and sets you on a quest to secure land for your master.I just can't stop playing through this adventure, there are some many twists and turns and the different bloodlines adds a interesting new aspect to the story as well as the allies system which adds a totally new layer to the game.Karl Richardson has also done a fantastic job of bringing the horrors of the Warhammer World to life.Overall, this is a fantastic game book that I have revisited many times and undoubtedly will again.
Easily 10/10, I hope there are many more to come."

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

They've been a while coming, but you're going to love how these games look on your desktop, not to mention the fun you'll have playing them. In fact the experience will probably take many of you back about 30 years!

(As is always the way, if any of you have not received Gamebook Adventures 1-7 for your Mac or PC and think you should have done, drop me a line and I'll get it sorted for you. It won't have been Tin Man Games' fault - it will have been a clerical error on my part.)

It just remains for me to say a huge THANK YOU to Neil Rennison and Ben Britten Smith of Tin Man Games who so generously offered this reward in the first place and sent out the codes. And once you've played through GA 1-7 you should really check out their new app versions of a certain gamebook series from the '80s too. ;-)

Tuesday, 16 July 2013

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say, “I have an idea, I’m going to write a book about it” and then watch as they never did it, I’d have—well, I’m not sure exactly how many nickels I’d have because I’m terrible at math, but it’s safe to say I’d have a ton of them."

Read Brian Klems' blog post about why writing a book makes you a badass here.

“The Serpent’s Egg,” by Jonathan Green, eschews historical periods and instead uses the Mythos to transform another piece of fiction, Bram Stoker’s “The Lair of the White Worm” as well as Ken Russell’s subsequent “abomination of a movie” based on the Stoker story. Using language at once reminiscent of Stoker and Lovecraft, Green follows a budding novelist into the north of England, to the ‘original’ site of the horror and the legendary home of the“Lambton Worm.” Judging by the way the review reads, Mr Collings doesn't appear to have realised that TheSerpent's Egg is actually a Cthulhuisation* of the Legend of the Lambton Worm, which also happened to be the inspiration for Stoker's Lair of the White Worm. But that aside, I think he liked it.You will be able to order the eBook version of Dreaming In Darkness very soon. More on that imminent release when I have it!* Yes, that is a word... Well, it is now...

Wednesday, 10 July 2013

Clocking in at almost 900 pages(!), it's another Black Library omnibus, collecting together the short story collections Heroes of the Space Marines, Legends of the Space Marines and Victories of the Space Marines, which means it includes two of my 40K short stories, The Relic (featuring the Black Templars*) and But Dust in the Wind (featuring the Imperial Fists).

Want to be the next great artists to draw Judge Dredd? Then follow this link, and take this opportunity to have your art seen by one of the world's best known publishers by entering the 2000AD portfolio challenge!

"This book, to me, is of the highest quality (like House of Hell).""This is nota onetruepath book! This allows you to read the bookagain,changingyour route, to see whatabominations you havemissed."5 stars!You can pick up a copy of La Nuit du Loup-Garou here.

Scott Harrison, just in case you don't know, is an author and editor. It was he who put together the Resurrection Engines Steampunk anthology that includes my own anachrotech take on Moby Dick entitled There Leviathan.

Scott was interviewed over at SF Signal back at the beginning of the year about the anthology and how he came to put it together. If you've not seen it already, it's worth a read.

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"Green deserves 10/10." - The Independent

"As welcome as a warm glass of mulled wine on a wintry night, Green's guide to Christmas enhances the pleasures of the festive season, offering a witty cornucopia of Christmas facts and folklore." - The Good Book Guide

"As usual, author Jonathan Green gets mileage out of his monsters, with big action set-pieces that read like Things We'd Like to See in a rip-roaring summer movie if the creature effects were good enough." - SFX Magazine

WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GREEN

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Jonathan Green

About Me

I am a freelance writer and editor, well known for my contributions to the Fighting Fantasy range of adventure gamebooks. I have also written for such diverse properties as Sonic the Hedgehog, Doctor Who, Star Wars and Games Workshop's worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000.
I am the creator of the alternative steampunk universe of Pax Britannia, and have written eight novels featuring the debonair dandy adventurer Ulysses Quicksilver.
As well as my fiction work, I have also written a number of non-fiction books including 'Match Wits with the Kids', 'What is Myrrh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas' and 'YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks'.